Power Rangers Hyperstrike
by Krocket
Summary: An ancient evil has been released, and a group of Authors from our world become chosen to defend against this new evil.
1. Prologue: The Beginning

**Power Rangers: Hyper Strike**

In his mind's eye the being known as Ninjor could see the destruction of Earth, not the Earth in his own universe, but an Earth in an alternate world. An Earth with no rangers and no one to create them. With his real eyes however, he could only see his companion looking at a silver box containing six strange devices. "Red Jaguar, Green Turtle, Pink Butterfly, Black Bat, Yellow Rhino, and Purple Pegasus," murmured Ninjor. Whether it was to his companion or to his self, neither knew or cared. "It is time." he told the other, his voice empty of emotion. "Dantai will soon begin his assault. We must find the people who will use these morphers or their world is doomed."

"We must." his companion echoed. Their voice was the opposite of Ninjor's, sounding strained and desperate as they added, "We lost one world. We will _not_ lose another."

**Chapter One: The Beginning**

Nothing about August 1st, 2003 seemed very unusual to Kyle John Evanick. He was still just your average, bored 19-year-old boy with a TV obsession and who had wished for a long time that something, _anything_, interesting would happen in his life. He could be sucked into the Pokémon world, he could be a Digidestined, he could be chosen to be a Power Ranger, it didn't mater to him. Anything would be an improvement over merely sitting at his desk, wishing for the impossible.

But then, nothing is impossible…

"Alright, checked email, submitted story and I'm now checking Ellen Brand's stories," Kyle muttered to himself. As he did so, he absently clicked on a link marked PR Info. Before he was even aware of what he'd done, a blinding white light filled the room. When it disappeared, so had Kyle.

"Wha…" muttered Kyle groggily, staring around at his surroundings. "I've gotta be dreaming! It's the Power Chamber!" The large chamber did indeed look vaguely like the Power Chamber from Zeo and Turbo. That is, if the Power Chamber had had a place where all seven Morphin Ranger costumes were standing on one wall, the Zeo costumes, minus Gold, on another and the five Turbo costumes along the third in a strange cross between a memorial and a trophy display. As his mind began noticed the person standing where Zordon's Power Tube should have been. Kyle gulped, "You're Ninjor! But what do you want from me?" Despite his featureless helmet, Ninjor looked grim.

"Kyle, your Earth is in great danger. In Zordon's…absence, I need to recruit six teenagers to champion and defend it," Ninjor explained bluntly. "My small gift for prophecy, though greatly limited compared to his, has told me you are to be the Red Hyperstrike Ranger and responsible for recruiting other Rangers around the world!" Kyle blinked.

"Can't you just teleport them here?" he asked reasonably.

"I wish, but so far I've only had the time and resources to locate you," Ninjor sighed.

"Oh."

"Did I mention time was running out?"

"For some reason, you don't have to," replied Kyle dryly. Ninjor chuckled at that, he did so like it when a Ranger had a sense of humour. Most of them were far too serious for his taste.

"Let me explain the powers," he told Kyle. Clearing his throat over dramatically, and pointedly ignoring the amusement on Kyle's face, he began. "As Red Ranger, your weapon is the Star Sword and you are guided by your Power Animal, the fierce Jaguar. Green Ranger has the Turtle as their guide and strikes with the Thunder Axe while the Pink Ranger has the Triangle Tri-Bow and draws strength from the graceful Butterfly. The Black Ranger is armed with the Staff and is powered by the mischievous Bat and Yellow Ranger wields the unbreakable Limestone Lance and commands the mighty Rhino. Finally, Purple Ranger soars aloft on the back of the mythical Pegasus and is protected by the Wing Shield." Kyle raised an eyebrow.

"All the rest of us get weapons and Purple gets a Shield?" he questioned.

"Don't look at me, I didn't design the powers," Ninjor replied, shrugging his shoulders, then continued his lecture. "In addition, the six Hyper Weapons combine in various configurations, you also have a Hyperlaser; a Bladeblaster style weapon which has two special modes: Spiral Mode, a large sabre, and Thunder Mode a huge V-weapon sized cannon.

"Each Ranger also controls an element, which with time and practice they may use in battle. As Red, you are Fire, Green is Lightning, Black is Darkness, Pink is Wind, Yellow is Earth and Purple is Light." Kyle nodded, having had time during Ninjor's explanation for his mind to stop whirling and absorb the situation.

"Who do we have to face?" he asked, the saying 'Know your enemy,' springing to mind.

"Observe the viewing globe!" Ninjor replied with a chuckle at some unseen joke, then shrugged. "Sorry, I always wanted to say that." Chuckling now himself, Kyle did so and saw three figures. One was a man in his mid-20's who had an axe on his back and black armour, another was a girl his age with blue hair and a green bodysuit, and finally there was something that looked like a WereGarurumon in armour wielding an axe.

"The man is Dantai. He is an evil scientist who was imprisoned years ago, but was freed recently by his kid sister Nitra and his right hand, Tyranus. Before you ask, he's the wolf." Kyle smiled at that.

"We get Zords?" he asked.

"Duh." was the flippant reply. "Each Ranger has a Hyperzord based on their animal. Collectively, Jaguar, Turtle, Bat, Rhino and Pegasus become the Strike Megazord."

Kyle watched the simulation on the viewing globe. Rhino's front legs folded in, taking the head with them as the rear legs swung out. Jaguar and Pegasus transformed, Triceratops and Sabre-tooth-tiger style, to become the legs and feet, connecting with Rhino's rear legs. Turtle withdrew into its shell before splitting into two halves, each connecting as an arm. Finally, the bat transformed and became the head.

"The Megazord cockpit is kept in the Rhino," Ninjor commented. "And the Butterfly can convert into the Strike Battlezord." On the globe, the two machines posed together, preparing for an imminent, unknown battle. Ninjor looked at, hopefully, his first Ranger in several centuries. "Well Kyle, will you be the new Red Ranger?" Kyle thought about it for the surprisingly lengthy time of two whole seconds.

"I'll do it!" Ninjor handed Kyle his morpher.

"With you and the other Rangers we may have a chance! To activate the morpher say 'Going Hyper'. And good luck." Despite the inevitable danger, Kyle couldn't help smiling. This was going to be a greater adventure then he'd ever dreamed of…

There's an ancient saying. 'Be careful what you wish for…'


	2. Pokemon, Pegasus and Problems, Oh My

**Power Rangers: Hyper Strike**

_**What has gone before…**_

_Foreseeing the destruction of an alternate universe, Ninjor has pressed the Power Chamber back into service. He intends to recruit five teenagers to save that Earth. Against him is the evil scientist Dantai, his little sister Nitra and the warrior Tyranus. Now, Kyle Evanick, the Red Jaguar Ranger of Fire, must locate his fellow team-mates before things get serious…_

_He's got less time than he thinks…_

_**Six Come Together, Part 1: Pokemon, Pegasus and Problems, Oh My.**_

"So who's first?" Kyle asked.

"I'm not sure," Ninjor admitted. Focussing his energies, he picked up the Purple Pegasus morpher.

"Why that one?" Ninjor shrugged.

"Gut instinct." Another question formed in Kyle's mind and promptly answered itself.

"So that's how you get your prophecies. Visions." Ninjor nodded.

"Yes," he grumbled. "And it would be nice if certain people would allow me some peace and quiet so I could…" Before Ninjor could finish his sentence, he tensed, his visor seeming to glaze over.

"Got one?" Kyle asked. No response. Realising Ninjor's attention was occupied, Kyle waited almost a full minute before trying again. "Ninjor?" Ninjor blinked.

"By the Grid," he muttered, "The Playboy channel's gotten good."

"NINJOR!" screamed Kyle indignantly, staring at the being in annoyed disbelief.

"Oh. Sorry," Ninjor said sheepishly as Kyle sighed and wondered what he'd gotten himself into. "Sometimes when I'm trying to have a vision, I accidentally get feed from a satellite channel instead. Let me try again."

In the end, after eight further tries and seven more satellite channels (three where in languages other than English, two more were pornographic (one in Japanese) and one, rather bizarrely, turned out to be Channel 5...) Ninjor finally got a real vision, evidenced by the blue glow that surrounded him.

"Finally…" Kyle sighed. "Ok, him or her?"

"Her. She was in the shower, actually." Kyle gave the Blue Morphin Master a glare that would extinguish a star and Ninjor relented. "Ok, I'm kidding. She wasn't in the shower, she was reading a book." Kyle eyed Ninjor, not entirely sure that his mentor wasn't still joking around.

"Describe her."

"White, red hair, blue eyes, wearing a purple jacket, silver necklace and white shorts. Figures she'd be wearing her colour. She's not hugely tall either, makes it hard to guess her age… She's probably fifteen, maybe sixteen."

"Doesn't give us much to go on location wise." Kyle mused.

"I know." Ninjor replied. "The clues are in the vision. You just need to ask me the right questions."

"Does she have any distinguishing features?"

Ninjor shrugged. "Well... She's got a scar…"

"A scar?" Kyle looked up. "Where?"

"On her leg. Looks like a straight cut with a burn scar surrounding it… There's one other thing, she's got a toy Pikachu tucked under her arm. Unusual for someone her age…"

_A Pikachu…_ "Accent?" Despite the aforementioned lack of facial features, Ninjor grinned.

"Australian, I think. Why? Do you know who it is?"

'_16, Australian, carrying a toy Pikachu._' Kyle thought. '_It _has_ to be her. Son of a bitch._' "I think I do, yeah." he said, smiling.

"Then go get her, young Jaguar!" Ninjor threw the Pegasus morpher to Kyle, who caught it. "Take these as well." he said, taking out two communicators.

"Where did you get those?" questioned Kyle, making Ninjor sweat-drop.

"I had a friend make them for me," he replied quickly. That was true enough.

Kyle took them, pocketed one and strapped on the other. Then he crossed to the teleportation console. After all, a Ranger could only use the watch to teleport to a place or person he knew and had a decent mental image of and Kyle knew of his guess only via e-mail and yahoo IM. After working the controls for a few moments, he disappeared in a beam of red. A chuckle echoed through the Chamber.

"Aren't you going to introduce me?" Ninjor chuckled in reply.

"Not yet, young Fox. I don't want him getting star-struck on me, now do I?"

"If he didn't much over you, I doubt I'll have any effect on him," the other countered.

"You underestimate yourself, my apprentice," Ninjor said. "Besides, I don't want to reveal my trump card too soon…"

**PLACE**: Morwell, Australia

**TIME**: 13:27, EST

Kyle landed out of sight, and made his way to 42 Coalville Road, the last known address he had. Frowning at the slightly overgrown lawn and the untended garden, Kyle had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. The feeling was confirmed when a glance at the house proved it was completely empty.

"Looking for someone?" called a voice and Kyle turned to see a dark haired man leaning over the fence.

"Yeah, I'm looking for a friend of mine," he replied. "Her name's Ann. She used to live here?" The man laughed.

"I know who you mean. She was friends with my daughter. But they've moved up to the city now," he told Kyle. "Her father developed heart problems you know." Now that Kyle thought about it, he did remember Ann mentioning shortly before disappearing from the offline world.

"You wouldn't happen to have their new address would you?" asked Kyle with little hope. His spirits lifted however when the man nodded.

"Sure, hold on a min."

**PLACE**: Melbourne, Australia

**TIME**: 13:41, EST.

Kyle landed in an alley just off Flinders Street. He'd already tried the address given to him, but had found that no-one was home. Now he'd come to the centre of city, in the hope of finding the person he was looking for and vaguely remembering Ann mentioning that her favourite used bookshop was here. He hadn't seen a purple jacket in the house, which was a good sign. Hopefully, that meant Ann was wearing it. He looked around, found himself a seat on a bench and settled in with a sigh to wait.

Twenty minutes later he was still waiting, indescribably bored. As such, he almost missed the purple jacket as it went into Collin's books. Getting up, he hurried into the shop. It took him a few seconds before he spotted who he was looking for. A short girl, about 15-16 years old, wearing a purple jacket and with a Pikachu plush toy tucked under one arm. As Kyle watched she looked over the shelves then picked a thick _Wheel of Time_ book off one of the racks.

'_Bingo_,' Kyle thought, knowing Ann adored the series. After a moment, he walked up to the girl as she was paying.

"Excuse me, are you Ann Star?"

"Er… yeah." Ann replied, giving Kyle a strange look. "Do I know you?" Kyle held out a hand.

"I should hope so little sister," he told her, grinning as the nickname made her look sharply at him. "I'm Kyle Evanick."

"KYLE?" Ann exclaimed, her eyes widening. The other nodded and Ann took the offered hand, shaking it with a smile. "I thought I recognised you from your picture…"

"You remember that?" Kyle frowned. That had been a while ago.

"It's one of the few that stuck," admitted Ann, grinning ruefully. She made no secret of her poor memory for faces. "Come on, we're holding up the line." Indeed, more then a few of the people waiting were giving the pair irritated looks.

Once they were outside, Ann's book now in a carry bag, they flopped onto the same seat Kyle had been waiting on. "So why are you here?" asked Ann. "I'm sure that you're not here just for a visit."

"What makes you think that?" countered Kyle. Ann laughed.

"You live in the US. This is Australia, on the other side of the world," she pointed out. "Not that it's not great to see you in person for once, but I seriously doubt you'd come all this way just to surprise me."

"Well, you're right," admitted Kyle.

"It happens sometimes," agreed Ann. "So, what's going on?" Kyle grinned at his 'adoptive sister' and the red-head eyed him warily.

"Tell me Ann… What's your memory of Power Rangers like?"

"You are _kidding_," breathed Ann, staring at Kyle. As proof, he twisted his wrist, calling his morpher, then dismissed it again.

"Wow," Ann said simply. "Well, you can strike 'Can you prove it?' from the question list." As quickly as he could, Kyle explained everything he'd learned so far.

"So I have to recruit Rangers from around the world before Dantai gets any ideas," he finished. Ann just looked at him, a silent 'What does this have to do with me?' written in her eyes. Taking a breath, Kyle held out the Pegasus morpher. "Will you be the Purple Ranger?"

"Are you _serious_?" Ann asked, taken completely by surprise. Kyle nodded and handed the morpher to her. Almost immediately, it crackled with energy, hissing in triumph. For a long time Ann just sat there, looking at it and shaking her head with a wry smile. "I can't believe this…"

"I understand," Kyle replied. "I'm still trying to assimilate this myself." He waited for a little longer before asking "So, will you do it?" It took a minute longer before Ann sighed and looked at her brother.

"Well I guess it's a good thing that fifty percent of my stuff is purple," she told him, chuckling as she strapped the morpher onto her wrist and showed it to Kyle. "I'm in."

"Welcome to the team." Kyle grinned. "All two of them. Come on, we'd better get back to the Power Chamber." Suddenly a horde of creatures materialised and surrounded them, accompanied by a blue-haired girl and a bipedal wolf in armour. Kyle and Ann sprang to their feet. "Ninjor, what are these things?" Kyle asked over the communicator.

"They are called Darkcrons, Dantai's foot-soldiers," came the reply.

"In other words, the cannon fodder," Ann translated.

"They sort of look like the love children of Putties and Tenga's." Kyle remarked.

"Who's the girl who fell into a paint bucket?" asked Ann.

"That's Nitra," Kyle said, amused.

"That's Nitra?" Ann remarked. "You forgot to mention we were fighting a Sailor Scout."

"Yes, and if you value your life, you'll refrain from comparing her to a child's cartoon!" the wolf snarled.

"And who are you supposed to be?" Ann asked, with a fake yawn. "WereGarurumon, Knight Mode?" Actually, she had a pretty good idea from Kyle's explanations, but she enjoyed running her mouth off. Besides, the banter was part and parcel of things.

"I am Tyranus, master warrior of a thousand galaxies. No mere human can defeat me." As, of course, was the exaggerated boasting from the bad guys.

"We're not mere humans." Kyle pointed out.

"Oh, really?" Tyranus sneered. "You're hardly the cream of the Ranger crop"

Ann's face remained impassive, though Kyle's twisted into a rueful look. Nitra nodded.

"And two mere bottom-of-the barrel Rangers will be no match for us." Her voice was nothing like Nadira's had been. In fact, it was quite pleasant.

"Maybe we'll surprise you," Ann called back. She looked at Kyle and shrugged. "I guess they haven't seen the show."

"Most of the Rangers on the show are black belts," Kyle replied.

"Good point. I guess we'll just have to Billy our way through." Kyle nodded.

"Ready?" Ann nodded back.

"Yeah."

"Enough of this!" Tyranus declared.

"Darkcrons, attack!" Nitra ordered.

"Then it's Time to Strike!" Kyle commanded.

"Going Hyper!" Ann concurred.

"FLAME JAGUAR!"

"LIGHT PEGASUS!"

In twin flashes of light, they transformed. Kyle into Red Ranger, Ann into Purple Ranger.

"Strike Blades!" Red Ranger commanded. Both Rangers pulled their 'Hyperlaser' pistols from their holsters and switched them into short swords. Then they charged into the fray. After the initial blows were exchanged, they moved away from each other, forcing the Darkcrons into two groups. In this manner, they were obliterated.

"Hey, Ann, I think Ninjor watches the show," Red Ranger commented as they polished off the last of their foes.

"Why do you think that?" Purple Ranger asked, curious.

"Because if I didn't know any better, I'd swear this was Quantum Ranger's Chronosabre." Ann chuckled at that as the last Darkcron fell to her blade. Then they turned and faced the next challenge, Purple Ranger opposite Nitra, Red Ranger against Tyranus.

"Surrender," Red Ranger ordered.

"Never!" Tyranus declared in true pantomime style. Nitra chuckled at the wolf.

"Sorry, Red Ranger. Having too much fun," she quipped.

"And here I thought the hair dye had just leaked into your brain," shot Purple Ranger. Nitra ignored her.

"Power Weapons!" Red Ranger said. "Star Sword!"

"Wing Shield!" called Purple Ranger, switching her Strike Blade to her right hand. '_The added protection can't hurt_,' she thought, seconds before Tyranus and Nitra drew their own blades and the two pairs of combatants rushed at each other. Kyle was instantly in trouble. As it happened, Tyranus _hadn't_ been boasting. After taking a few hits, the Red Ranger was instantly forced on the defensive.

Despite having a significantly weaker opponent, Ann wasn't doing much better. After trading blows for several minutes, Nitra managed to dash the both Ann's Strike Blade and Wing Shield from her grasp, forcing Purple Ranger to dodge her sword. Fortunately, her Ranger abilities had made her _very_ capable in this area. Nitra aimed a kick at the other girl's chest which she blocked with both arms, forcing the villainess to back-flip to get away and regain her footing.

"I see Paris, I see France, I saw Nitra's underpants." he sing-songed, recalling the old playground rhyme. Despite it's childishness, Ann knew exactly how pissed off the song made most girls. Besides, what modern woman, alien or not, was stupid enough to go into battle in a fuku? The Sailor Scouts got away with it (just), mostly because they were wearing leotards. Her song had the desired effect. With a furious hiss, Nitra lunged for the younger girl, fully intent on silencing her. Quicker than thought, Purple Ranger vaulted over her. As she landed, Nitra turned, surprised, and she floored the villainess with a perfect roundhouse kick. Her sword flew through the air and bopped a surprised Tyranus on the head, causing him to drop his own blade, allowing Red Ranger to temporarily go on the offensive, attacking with all the speed and firepower of a jungle cat.

"Return!" Purple Ranger called. Her Wing Shield and Strike Blade flew back into her hands and she dismissed them both as Nitra got up and they went at it again, hand to hand this time.

On literally the other side of the street, the battle had turned against Red Ranger. Tyranus had shaken off the disorientation from the sword induced headache and now he was pissed. As a result, Kyle was getting the shit beaten out of him. Ann scowled under her helmet as she noticed this. '_I've got to finish this_,' she thought and quickly ducked down, scooping a handful of dirt up from the gutter.

"Hey Nitra, catch!" That was all the warning Nitra received before the damp and smelly dirt slapped her in the face, blinding her for the moment. Ann pressed her advantage ruthlessly, once again transforming her Hyperlaser into its Strike Blade mode and slashing Nitra across a girl's most sensitive body part, her breasts. Nitra fell back in shock, doubling over in pain. She _had_ seen the show, in fact, to get a better idea of her brother's foes. She had _never_ expected that one of Zordon's Chosen to fight dirty. Apparently, Ninjor had different standards. She looked up to glare…just in time to see his glowing fist connect with her jaw.

"POWER PUNCH!" Purple Ranger yelled as her uppercut sent Nitra sailing back. "Had enough?" Purple Ranger asked sweetly as Nitra landed firmly on her ass. In reply, she vanished. Satisfied, Purple Ranger turned round… just in time to see Red Ranger collapse from a blow from Tyranus's now retrieved sword.

"Kyle!" Purple Ranger leapt high, towards Tyranus, Shield held above her head. At the apex of her jump, a ray of sunlight fell upon her shield and with a flick of her wrist, Purple Ranger redirected the newly formed laser straight at Tyranus. The wolf screamed as the burning ray slammed into his body. Purple Ranger's feet had barely touched the ground before she jumped again and spun, striking Tyranus across the chest with her Strike Blade. A second underarm blow struck the wolf across the jaw, sending him flying in a similar manner to Nitra. However, Tyranus still had the presence of mind to land on his hands, flipping himself to his feet.

"Return!" he snapped and his sword flew into his hands.

"Huh," Purple Ranger mused. "Guess I'm not the only one who can pull that trick." She looked at her partner in concern. "You alright?" she asked.

"I'm okay." Red Ranger lied, getting to his feet only by propping himself up on his sword and a helping hand from his sister. Truth was, doing this much had nearly exhausted both of them. They looked at Tyranus. "Think we can take him?" Kyle asked.

"I don't know," Ann replied, worriedly. "I barely managed Nitra and she was the easy one."

"I'll destroy both of you." Tyranus declared, charging.

"Yeah right!" Red Ranger snorted. "Attack together! Star Sword!" he held his weapon ready, igniting the blade.

"Wing Shield! Ready!" Purple Ranger concurred, her Shield blazing with light

"Now!" Red Ranger commanded. Both Ranger's held their weapons high, then brought them together, crossing them then pointed them forward. A beam of laser light, far stronger then any the Wing Shield could manage alone, shot from them, picking up Tyranus and blasting him across the _length_ of the street (And trust me, it's a long street.) He landed just outside Rivers. By the time he got to his feet, the Rangers had caught up, Power Weapons ready, trying not to show how tired they were. The Grid was replenishing their energies, but not fast enough. "Your move, Tyranus," Red Ranger announced. Tyranus looked at the siblings, considering his options.

"Another time, Power Rangers." he snarled disappearing. Ann let out a breath she hadn't realised she was holding.

"Thank God that's over," she muttered. Kyle shook his head slowly.

"I don't think so," he remarked.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, if this were Rita, right about now…"

Just then a fresh batch of Darkcrons appeared, accompanied by something that looked like an overgrown Pikachu.

"..is when she'd send the monster," Ann finished with a sigh. "Sorry, I'd forgotten." Though something about this monster was very unnerving to the girl. Something unnerving and… familiar…

"Pikachu… Evening, Rangers," the monster grinned. "You both look all worn out. Looks like me and my new friends here have the easy job."

"And who are you supposed to be?" Purple Ranger asked.

"Well Ranger," the monster bowed his head at them in a mocking gesture of respect. "The name's Pikalator… But I've been known as Tuono in the past…"

Behind her helmet, Purple Ranger paled considerably and turned to cast a horrified glance back at the bench where she'd left her book and Pikachu toy. There was no sign of the toy. "No…" she breathed, staring back at Pikalator. "Tuono, don't do this!" she pleaded. Pikalator shrugged.

"Sorry Pipika," he told her. "Order's are orders. Maybe you'd consider the possibility of surrender?"

"We accept," shot back Red Ranger. Pikalator scowled at being one-upped.

'_He's certainly got the personality I gave Tuono_,' thought Ann sadly, downhearted at the knowledge she was going to lose her favourite procession.

"Enough talk." Pikalator decided. "Darkcrons, finish them off! I'm going to have some fun on the beach." With that, the overgrown toy hightailed it.

"No you don't!" Purple Ranger snapped, vaulting over the Darkcrons in pursuit. They watched her go, then shrugged, surrounding Red Ranger, who had dismissed his Star Sword in favour of his Strike Blade.

Pikalator made it to Saint Kilda beach just as Purple Ranger caught up, Shield glowing. "It's High Noon! This is your final battle, Ranger!"

"Actually it's a quarter past two," Purple Ranger corrected, "but don't let that stop you, you yellow bellied coward!"

'_Touché_,' Pikalator thought, though he wasn't going to give Ann the satisfaction of telling her. Instead, he assumed a fighting stance. "You're finished!"

"Bring it on!" Purple Ranger snapped, equally ready. "Sorry Tuono, it's you or me… And I fight to win, as you know."

The two went at it. Pikalator's greater amount of speed gave him an edge until the Purple Ranger managed to slash his front paws and giving her the opening she need. Intending to use it, she charged up the shield and sent another laser into the chest of her foe. However, though the hit did some damage, the expected surge of burning might never materialised. Pikalator staggered back, surprised he was still alive.

One look at her Power Weapon and Purple Ranger instantly realised the problem. "Shit," she muttered, "my Shield is running out of energy."

"Too bad for you!" Pikalator responded to this piece of good news by firing a barrage of small, but powerful sparks. Purple Ranger dropped her shield; though none of the barbs had penetrated her suit, she'd still had the wind knocked out of her. Pikalator charged, using his tail to send Purple Ranger flying onto her back, where she made no effort to get up again. Ironically, the only thing that kept Purple Ranger conscious was the sensation of Pikalator's foot in her stomach.

"I never miss at this range." Pikalator promised. Purple Ranger smirked.

"Neither do I." Drawing her Hyperlaser, she fired, forcing Pikalator off her and giving her room to stand. "Power Rangers!" she cried, a power surge replenishing her energies in an instant. '_I wish you'd told me I could do that earlier_,' she groused to The Power. It ignored her, naturally. "Strike Blade!" Purple Ranger called. Once more she vaulted over her foe, turning in mid air and slashing Pikalator with the blade. This time, damage done was plenty.

"Time to stop playing games!" Pikalator roared angrily.

"I quite agree." Purple Ranger replied. "Strike Blade, Freestyle!" The Blade glowed with power. With that, Purple Ranger charged, striking Pikalator diagonally and then once with a mighty underarm swing which sent the monster flying through the air to crash into the sand. Much to Ann's annoyance, even though Pikalator was smoking all over his body, he still managed to launch another volley of sparks, which the Purple Ranger hastily blocked with her shield. "What does it take?" she snapped.

"Mind if I have a go?" Red Ranger asked, appearing behind her suddenly

"Kyle!" Ann grinned. "Good timing, big brother!"

"My pleasure. Star Sword, Ignite!" The Red Ranger formed a circle of fire in the air, in the same manner as the Lightspeed Megazord and Red Battle Warrior before him. He braced, then swung, scoring the final blow.

"Yes!" Purple Ranger cheered. Both turned and posed as Pikalator collapsed and exploded.

"Hah, I'm not finished yet!" Pikalator got up one knee.

"Fuck!" Purple Ranger snapped. Pikalator pulled out what looked one of Zedd's Monster Growth Bombs and smashed it, instantly growing to Godzilla proportions.

"Ok, that's big." Red Ranger noted.

Purple Ranger had to agree, but she was currently somewhat pissed off that a monster she'd put so much effort, both physical and mental, into destroying was still walking around.

"Let's get the Zords," Red Ranger said. Purple Ranger held up a hand.

"Thanks for the assist, but he's mine."

"Now, wait a minute…" Ann ignored him.

"Pegasus Hyperzord!" There was a sudden silence, a strong breeze, then Ann's Zord exploded from the clouds. Red Ranger stared at it. The Zord in the Megazord transformation had been far more robot-like in order to form a leg solid enough to support the Megazord's body. This Pegasus wouldn't have looked out of place in a girl's anime, having a shining purple body and silver hooves, wings, mane and tail.

"Whoa." Pikalator commented, impressed. Kyle sweat-dropped.

"Ok, he's yours." Ann looked at him.

"Thanks," she said, dryly. Then she teleported to her Zord. After a movement for her pilot to absorb the knowledge she needed from the Grid, including a piece of information that brought a smile to Ann's face, the Pegasus took off, hovering several feet above the ground. She then launched herself at Pikalator and struck him hard with her hoof, sending him flying out to sea. Pegasus quickly followed, landing not far from the downed Pokemon. Muttering something about not getting paid enough, Pikalator got up again and fired a barrage of shocks, taking a chunk out of Pegasus' shields.

"Knock it off, you bastard," Ann snarled. "I only just got this thing." From somewhere she got the impression that the Pegasus was offended about being called a 'thing'. "No offence meant, Pegasus," she told her, apologetically. "How about we show him what you can really do?" Her Zord thus placated, she tapped in a quick command sequence, hitting the return key perhaps a _little_ harder than she should have done. A localised Earthquake swept out from Pegasus and Pikalator fell on his face with a splash.

"I wish you would stop doing that!" he snapped.

"Then how about I do this?" Purple Ranger asked. "Wrap!" A long thin laser lashed out and wrapped itself around Pikalator. "Heat mode!" Purple Ranger commanded. At once the laser raised its temperature to around a tenth that of the sun, burning Pikalator and boiling the ocean waters. However, Pikalator lived. The same could not be said of every fish within about a ten mile radius. Red Ranger, who had been about to wade into the water for a better view, quickly changed his mind.

"You alright up there?" he asked over communicator.

"This electric rat's refusal to faint is driving me insane!" his sister replied. "Otherwise, I'm fine."

"You're already insane."

"Valid point." Ann conceded. "Alright then. Let's try something else."

With that, the Pegasus, using it's tail to hold on to the Pokemon, began to spin and whirled Pikalator around at several times the speed of sound.

"Stooooop, pleeeeeaaaaase!" Pikalator wailed. "PIKKKAAAA! I'm gonna be siiiiiiiiiiick!"

Purple Ranger waited until she was bored, and getting mildly sick herself, then let Pegasus throw Pikalator away. The Pikachu staggered to his knees and threw up, polluting the ocean with whatever it was he last had for dinner.

"I thought Rangers weren't supposed to fight dirty," he complained.

"Wrong Rangers," Ann explained sweetly. "And it's time I put you out of your misery. Pegasus Hyperzord, Ray of Vengeance attack!" Energy began collecting in the solar cells contained in the hood. The Wing Shield, super-sized, appeared on the front of Pegasus, glowing and signifying full charge.

"FIRE!" Purple Ranger yelled. A bright beam of energy blasted out from either side of the shield, intersecting exactly on target. Pikalator glowed for a moment, then… shrank?

"What on earth?" asked Red Ranger as a fainted, but living, breathing, normal sized Pikachu washed up on the shore.

"Well, The Power said Ray of Vengeance could have… unexpected results," murmured Ann, reappearing, unmorphed, on the shore and picking up the Pikachu.

"No kidding," muttered Kyle, demorphing.

It took a morph, but Ann's mother was eventually convinced to let her go with Kyle to save the world, provided she still got to school on time every day. Her father didn't give a damn, as Ann had expected and to Kyle's annoyance. Ninjor quickly arranged for the rest of Ann's things to be teleported into the Power Chamber from Melbourne.

_Two down, four to go…_


	3. Chapter 2: The Blades of Wind

**Power Rangers: Hyper Strike**

**What has gone before…**

_After a vision of who the second ranger, Kyle goes to Australia to recruit her. After getting Ann to agree, (Granted, not that hard) they were attacked by Tyranus, Nitra, and a group of foot soldiers called Darkcrons. Then, much to her horror, Ann's toy Pikachu was transformed into the monster Pikalator. After some teamwork, and a little help from The Power, they defeated him by transforming the monster into a real, living Pikachu and head to find the third ranger. _

_They had better hurry up..._

**Six Come Together, Part 2: The Blades of Wind**

Unable to teleport too close into town this time, the two new Rangers had been walking for about twenty minutes to a house in North Carolina. Specifically, a house with an old friend of Kyle.

As the two made it to the door Kyle turned and looked at his sister, "Ann? Just let me handle this. She's more likely to trust me, than you. We have gotten along very well and she doesn't know you at all."

"Fine." Ann agreed, understanding her brother's reasons. This was going to be hard to believe coming from a friend. Coming from a stranger, well, it would most likely result in a visit to a hospital were the wards had padded walls. Sighing and visibly bracing himself to be laughed at, Kyle went over and knocked at the door. A short girl of 21 with black hair appeared at the door, eyeing the pair curiously.

"Hello…" she greeted them.

"Excuse me, are you Carter, from Cary, North Carolina, USA

**TIME**: 14:00hrs, Local Time.

After some brief introductions, Kyle was at a loss to explain himself. Ann snickering in the background at his difficulty wasn't helpful either. He shot her the darkest look he could manage and saw her grinning widely.

"You told me to let you handle it," she mouthed, grinning impishly, and Kyle suddenly found himself entertaining visions of strangling her. Reminding himself that murdering his, currently, only team-mate in front of a potential team-mate would not be the best first impression, Kyle turned back to Carter.

"Uhh, what I'm saying is..."

"You want me to be a Pink Power Ranger and help save the world, right?" Carter finished with a chuckle. Sighing, Kyle nodded.

"Let me guess. You don't believe a word of it. Ahh, typical. This makes things SO much easier." Still grinning, Carter shook her head.

"Actually, I do believe you. You're not the type to lie, even if I only knew you online. You kinda have this lone wolf vibe about you. Someone who wouldn't ask for help even if you needed it. The only people who I could believe about this stuff are you and Seth. Am I warm?" she asked.

"Pretty much," Ann replied, amused. "Nobody in their right mind would believe me... Most of them actually know me." Scowling, Kyle turned to his sister.

"You're a BIG help." he responded sarcastically.

"I try," shot back Ann, smirking.

Looking at the siblings oddly, Carter asked, "Does this mean I wear pink spandex?"

"Oh… Yeah," Ann said, grimacing in sympathy. She hated pink.

On spaceship far above the Earth, a very different conversation was taking place.

"I can't believe you two couldn't handle two rookie Rangers!" Dantai huffed. Nitra shrugged.

"We made the classic mistake. We underestimated them. But at least WE didn't send a pathetic puffball of a monster like Pikalator! They didn't even have to destroy him!"

The wolf called Tyranus glared at her slightly. "You think you can do better!

She returned. "Couldn't do any worse..."

Dantai glared. "Fine. Tyranus, send a monster to deal with them while I discuss things with my sister. And get rid of the Red Ranger first."

The wolf bowed, "Yes sir. I've chosen the perfect one."

During the conversation, Kyle would glance out the window every couple of minutes, as though he was expecting someone.

Carter moved over to him, "What's up? Why are you looking at the window every second minute?" He shrugged.

"Just waiting till they send their monster of the day. Because if this was Rita right about now..." Just then a loud explosion rang through the street outside.

The three of them ran over to the street where a monster appeared. It looked more like an Etemon mixed in with a lobster than a monster. It had brown hair styled in an Elvis kind of way, had claws instead of hands and held a spear in his right claw and a blaster in the other.

Ann joined them at the window, "...is when she'd send the monster," she finished, sighing. "They sent Radster! Even I know him! What I don't know is whether to be glad we're not facing someone tough or insulted."

Carter turned to her, "He can't be that bad. Can he?"

"More to the architecture than us." Kyle mused. "Ready?" Carter nodded, looking slightly nervous but reassured by the other two Ranger's scorn for the monster.

"Time to Strike!" Ann began.

Kyle smirked, "Going Hyper!"

"FLAME JAGUAR!"

"LIGHT PEGASUS!"

"WIND BUTTERFLY!"

Kyle and Carter underwent similar metamorphosis, but Ann's was slightly different. All of them had their animal on the chest armour. The face of the animal also made up the helmet. The suits had a single holster for the blaster. The suits had a unique but familiar design: The Rangers' colour mixed with white for Kyle, Carter, and Purple mixed with grey for Ann. Their element also had an effect on their suits and attacks. Plus of course, Ann and Carter's suits included a skirt, much to Ann's disgust.

"Power…"

"Rangers…"

"Hyperstrike!" Red moved to front of the group. "Hyperlaser, Spiral Mode!" Their blasters then transformed into short swords. The lobster moved closely to Red Ranger.

"That was some nice show, baby! But let's see how you deal with this. Darkcrons, get them! Let's get this party started!"

"Oh, no you don't!" Red said as he dealt blow after blow on Radster.

Ninjor nodded as he watched the fight. He'd designed the suits to recognise not just colour, but shade. Kyle and Carter were Light, as pure and true as either Zordon or Ninjor him self could have hoped. Ann, on the other hand, was a Shadow, which was slightly worrying. Ninjor didn't doubt the young girl's commitment, but she'd be more vulnerable to the Dark side than the others.

'_I'll just have to keep an eye on her..._'

Behind her helmet, Purple Ranger grinned dangerously. "OK, you Etemon reject, take this! Wing Shield, Solar Beam!" A bolt of energy shot up into the sky from Purple's Shield, which then lanced down and hit Radster and the remaining Darkcrons at double the Ranger's usual strength. Pink looked at the remaining debris, stunned, as it seemed nothing was left of Radster. There was certainly nothing left of the Darkcrons.

"I can't believe it's that easy!" she laughed.

"Me either," Purple grumbled. "What a loser. Well, at it was a quick…" She trailed off and swore colourfully, making several _interesting_ suggestions about the members of Dantai's family tree, as amidst the smoke Radster climbed to his feet, seemingly unharmed.

"Baby, don't tell me that was your best shot! _Elgar_ could've made a better shot!"

"I wasn't aiming," Purple pointed out.

Despite Radster's stinging words (and some worry at Ann's), Red Ranger let Pink Ranger go ahead. "Give them your best shot and make it count!" Pulling out what seemed to be an oversized, pink Hi-tech bow, Pink Ranger took careful aim.

"Let's see if you get my point. Actually, I have three. Triangle Tri-Bow, Split Arrows!" As she fired the bow, the triple shot she sent seemed to split and curve straight into Radster's chest causing him to smoke and explode. The male Ranger breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well at least that's done with," Red remarked.

"Rangers! I'm not done yet, baby!" The three turned around to see Radster still alive.

Purple groaned loudly, "This is just getting embarrassing!"

"Only just?" shot back Pink. "This was embarrassing from the start!" Red's communicator went off.

"Kyle here."

Ninjor replied, "I'm currently sending a new combo for your weapons. You can create the Terra Blaster by forming the Star Sword, Triangle Tri-Bow, and Wing Shield."

Red Ranger nodded, "Let's do it!"

"Wing Shield!" The Shield formed the core of the weapon...

"Triangle Tri-Bow!" ...the Bow went on the front sideways, forming a crossbow shape...

"Star Sword!" and the Sword went along the top. The result was not dissimilar to the MMPR Blaster.

"Terra Blaster, Fire!" A typhoon filled with Light and Flame hit Radster dead center causing him to explode, this time for good.

"Later days, Radster!" Red exclaimed, calling up to the sky, "Hey, Tyranus. You've got to do better than that!"

The wolf in question was furious. "They mock ME! They'll pay for this insult!" Nitra chuckled.

"You can't say you didn't deserve it. I mean Radster? C'mon. Fortunately, my plan is much better."

He groaned, "That overgrown tin can? That's pathetic."

"Wanna bet?" Nitra ginned. "Trust me, they won't know what hit them." A large six-foot figure covered in black insect-like armour walked over.

"I'm ready to get rid of those pests immediately."

"Good. However, get rid of Red first. He's more dangerous," Nitra commanded.

"Actually, I believe my talents would be best suited to taking out the Purple Ranger first," the figure corrected.

"How so?" Tyranus asked. The figure chuckled evilly.

"Because she will make the most interesting meal..."

After helping Carter get her stuff ready, Ann received a message on her communicator. "Congratulations on your mission Rangers, however I found out that the fourth Ranger is in Arizona."

"Arizona? That means the Ranger is… Oh damn." Kyle cursed.

Carter grimaced, "Seth. We better get him before Dantai does.

"Let's go," Ann agreed, with a sigh.

_Halfway there, three down three to go..._

_But the next challenge will be one of the hardest..._

Co-author's note: Okay, it was short but you know how the saying goes. "Short and sweet." Besides, give me a break. I've had to rewrite all three chapters. I'm sure the disappearance of the green Ranger has been noticed by anyone re-reading this. Due to a… disagreement, Alan has quit co-writing this fic with Kyle and so I've taken up the mantel of co-author. However due to a few plot factors we had to re-arrange the order of appearance for the team. The new Green Ranger will appear in Chapter 6. In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed the re-written chapters. Blue Squirtle15 (Ann Star)


	4. Chapter 3a: Shadow Of The Bat

Author's Notes: Thanks to Ellen Brand for the use of various things in this story. I'd say what, but that'd spoil it...

**Power Rangers: Hyper Strike**

_**What has gone before…**_

_Three down, Three to go. Kyle and Ann went to North Carolina to recruit the teams first female Ranger, Carter. Now they are headed to Arizona to pick up the Black Bat Ranger Of Darkness, Seth Turtle._

_Meanwhile, Nitra has ressurected a monster that would be near lethal to the _complete_ team, let alone one that is still at only partial strength._

**Six Come Together, Part 3a: Shadow Of The Bat**

"So these are the other morphers?" the girl known as Carter Tachikawa asked. The, currently, trio of Rangers had returned to the refurbished Zeo Power Chamber. Their purpose was fourfold; Introduce Carter to Ninjor, get her settled in, pick up the next morpher and lock in co-ordinates for their trip.

"Indeed," Ninjor confirmed. "A most efficient and elegant design too. I only wish I could say it was mine."

"It isn't yours?" Carter asked, surprised.

"No, my dear. These powers date from long before my time."

"How do they work?"

"Kinda like Wild Force," Kyle answered instead of Ninjor. "Our Zords are basically Ninjetti Spirits given robotic form. We draw power from them to form suits, weapons and so on." Carter frowned.

"So do we get animal crystals?"

"No." Ann said, looking up from where she was kneeling next to her Pikachu. Once Ninjor had confirmed that Tuono was nothing more then he seemed, a normal Pikachu, Ann had been _more_ then willing to adopt her former toy as her new pet. "Ninjor explained it to Kyle and me yesterday. Our Zords aren't any relation to the Wild Zords of Animaria, though they're made in the same fashion. Our suits, however, were made with a completely different design and slightly different colour philosophy. Our morphers basically _are_ our crystals. You must be feeling Butterfly's presence by now. I know I can feel Pegasus'."

"Yeah, I can," Carter agreed, looking down at her morpher. "If we need them, how do we call them?"

"You will know when the time comes," Ninjor said simply. "You should go Rangers. Your next team-mate awaits."

"I've found somewhere we can beam in," Kyle announced. "Everyone ready to go?"

"Ready when you are, brother," Ann replied.

"Carter?"

"Let's do it." The trio teleported to a deserted alley, then started to make their way to Seth's house. "So why are our suits partly white when yours is partly grey?" Carter asked Ann, mostly to make conversation in order to pass the time while they walked. Also, she was curious about the other girl, who had been mostly silent since the battle.

"Shade," Ann replied shortly, and moved away before she could press further, snatching the map from Kyle before continuing on.

"What's wrong with _her_?" Carter asked, offended. Kyle sighed.

"Don't take it personally," he told Carter. "She's had a hard life. Just give her time, she'll open up… eventually." Kyle shook his head when Carter opened her mouth to ask what he meant by a hard life. "I can't tell you anymore then that. It's not my place. Look, you were asking about the suits… You've read Ellen Brand's fics, right?"

"Who hasn't?"

"Including the essays on her website?"

Carter frowned. "Not recently."

"Ok... well, she was on to something. Basically, all of magic is divided into three shades: Light, Dark and Shadow, each represented by their own colour: White, Black and Grey." Carter grimaced.

"And our suits reveal which shade we draw from."

"Right. So you and me, we're whites, just as pure and good as Jason or Tommy, Kat or Kimberly. But Ann, she's a shadow. That puts her in a literal grey area in terms of morality."

"Ok, but why's that put her in such a bad mood?"

Kyle let out a slow breath, then explained, "I probably shouldn't tell you this… It's really Ann's business, but… Her father is abusive, currently emotionally but physically in the past. It's why Ann learnt to fight in the first place, and why she goes out of her way to deny any relationship to the basted. I'm no expert, but I think Ann feels that being a Shadow means that in some way she's failed to measure up, that she's not good enough to be a true Ranger."

"And that means a lot to her?" Carter asked.

"Well, yes and no… I think that being chosen as a Ranger, especially with her element being Light, allowed Ann to convince herself that she hasn't been influenced by her father… And to her, that meant _everything_. The idea that she _has_ been influenced in some way by her upbringing, that she isn't as pure or good as you and I, well…" Carter nodded, understanding.

"Not a happy thought?" Kyle just shook his head.

After another half-an hour, they arrived at Seth's apartment. "Let me do the talking, okay?" Kyle requested the other two. Ann, still subdued, just nodded. Kyle walked up and rang the door-bell.

"Carter?" Ann asked quietly.

"Yeah?" Carter asked back.

"Sorry I was rude earlier."

"That's ok. We've all got a lot going on in our heads right now."

"Yeah, but still..." Ann looked down at his morpher, idly tracing the symbol of the Pegasus. '_The gods of irony must be laughing their heads off. The Ranger with the element of Light, a shadow. Wonder who thought up that lovely little plot twist?_' she thought with a sigh.

"Hey, look at it this way." Carter said, getting his attention. "We're here now, so let's do our best, ok? Shade isn't everything." Ann's fist tightened and she nodded sharply. Just then the door was opened.

"Can I help you?" a man asked.

"Excuse me sir," Kyle said in his best 'talking to adults' voice. "Is Seth Turtle in please?" The man blinked for a moment.

"Seth? Oh, you must be some of Chris' online friends."

"Actually, they're his friends," Ann commented. "He and I barely know each other." There was a crash from within.

"Chris!" a female voice yelled indignantly. The man winced.

"Sorry. We were just sitting down to dinner."

"Oh, sorry," Kyle said. "We'll come back."

"No don't," a voice pleaded. Then a teenage boy who looked almost like a tall thin version of Kyle walked into view, staring at them.

"Kyle, Ann, Carter." Ann explained less then helpfully, pointing at each of them in turn. Kyle shot her a "don't start" look which earned him an impish grin in return.

"Ann, what happened to letting me do all the talking?" Kyle asked sharply.

Ann looked hurt at this. "Fine, be that way." he retorted, turning to go. "I'll just go and sulk in the Power Chamber..."

"Power Chamber?" Seth asked faintly.

Meanwhile, Carter grabbed Ann by the back of her t-shirt before she could make good on her threat.

"You'll stay here," she ordered.

"Yes, _mum_," Ann grumbled. _That_ remark got her smacked across the back of the head for her trouble.

"And don't be cheeky!"

"Yes, mum." Ann repeated, grinning. Carter rolled her eyes and gave up.

"Kyle, your sister is impossible."

"I take that as a complement."

"Kyle?" Seth asked. Kyle sighed.

"Yeah, Seth?"

"What's going on?"

"This is weird." Mr. Crossman said. "There was something on the international news yesterday about people in a costal town near Dover seeing a battle between a giant Pokemon and a giant flying horse. Some even saw the fight between two Rangers and some aliens. But most of the media seems to have dismissed it as a mass hallucination."

"And their explanation for the ocean tide full of Pika-vomit?" Ann asked. She'd been responsible for making Pikalator spill his guts and the seas where really starting to stink when she and Kyle had left.

"There wasn't one." The boy who preferred to be known as Seth Turtle shrugged. "So it's all true?"

"Yeah, it's true," Kyle said. "Has there been anything on the news about our fight with Radster?" Mrs. Crossman nodded.

"There was a report just on the last news about three rangers battling strange creatures and a 'weird lobster thing'. But again, it's just being put down to mass hallucination." Ann shook her head in amused amazement.

"And people really believe that?" she asked. Rolling her eyes skyward Ann added, "How the he- er, heck, did we get to be top of the food chain?" Suddenly their communicators went off with the eerily familiar six tone beeping.

"Rangers," Ninjor's voice declared, "the Darkcrons are attacking the centre of town."

"Probably trying to draw us out," Ann noted.

"We need to get moving," Kyle said.

"So, will you join us?" Carter asked. Seth nodded.

"Give me the morpher." he said. Carter and Ann exchanged looks at this, something about it seemed… out of character for Seth, but Kyle was already trying to hand over the Bat morpher. He got about halfway before the morpher jerked in his hand... and flew straight to Carter.

"What the?" Kyle asked.

"Ok, that hasn't happened before," Ann commented. She kept her gaze firmly on Seth and shifted position slightly, suddenly certain something was very wrong.

"Could we have gotten it wrong?" Carter asked as Kyle came over to the other two.

"Maybe, but he fits the description Ninjor gave us." Kyle mused. "You try it." Carter took the morpher and walked towards Seth, but more slowly. This time, the Bat symbol lit up, and an image of the Bat appeared above it. It glared at Seth and shrieked.

"Hmm, he doesn't appear to like you very much," Ann noted, tensing.

"Give me the morpher," Seth repeated. The three friends looked at each other.

"No, I don't think we'll be doing that." Kyle said as he and Ann joined Carter.

"Son?" Mr. Crossman asked. "What's going on?"

"Be quiet, human," 'Seth' snapped, in a quite different voice. Mr .Crossman recoiled and when 'Seth' turned round, Kyle and the others could see his eyes glowing red.

"Who are you?" Ann growled, asking the question they all wanted to know. 'Seth' chuckled, the sound making them shiver.

"Ann, Ann, you're not nearly as smart as you pretend." he admonished.

"I know," Ann replied ruefully, then shook her head as if trying to snap herself out of something. "But this isn't the time to be discussing my IQ or lack of it."

"It isn't?" asked Carter in mock surprise.

"We repeat, who are you?" Kyle asked grimly, ignoring his companions attempt at humor in a crisis. Another chuckle.

"Can't you tell, Red Ranger?" Kyle frowned. The voice _was_ familiar somehow. But it was Ann that reconised it first, well, not the voice but the stance and the manner of speech, her face paling instantly.

"No..." she whispered. 'Seth' nodded, smiling, enjoying his opponent's fear.

"Oh yes." Then he pointed a laser and shot Ann straight in the heart.

By rights, this should have resulted in one dead Australian. However, by the time 'Seth's' hand had finished squeezing the trigger, Ann was consumed in purple light. By the time it actually hit, she was automatically morphed, the Power's attempt to protect the girl from harm. However, at point blank range, the energy bolt still blasted her back into the wall. Ann struck it hard and then slumped to the floor, unmoving and with a large scorch mark across the front of her spandex-like amour.

"Ann!" Kyle and Carter chorused as the Crossman's shrieked. The two teens rushed to Purple Ranger's side.

"Are you alright?" Kyle asked. The only response they got was a faint glow before Purple Ranger reverted back to Ann. Besides a hole in her T-shirt she was unharmed and breathing. But her eyes stared blankly into space, as if her mind was still trying to catch up with the fact she wasn't dead.

"What have you done to her?" Kyle demanded, murder in his eyes. 'Seth' smiled an evil smile.

"Just terrified her half to death," he replied cruelly. "I'll be waiting, Rangers." Then he turned and walked into one of the shadows on the wall and was gone. At which point, the already terrified Crossman's freaked out completely. Kyle and Carter exchanged significant looks. They knew their foe now. The laser used to shoot Ann had been unmistakable. 'Seth's' method of exit merely confirmed it.

"Shadowborg..." Carter said grimly.

"Yeah," Kyle agreed. "And if it's the version I think it is, we're _really_ in trouble."

After semi-successfully calming down the Crossman's, the trio returned to the Power Chamber, Kyle and Carter supporting Ann between them. The youngest Ranger was currently curled up against one of the consoles with Tuono on her lap, completely unresponsive.

"What's wrong with her?" Kyle asked, concerned by his sister's state.

"She's just been shot at point blank range," Ninjor pointed out. "This _might_ be considered mildly traumatic, wouldn't you think?"

"The trial by fire," Carter commented. Ninjor nodded. "Is she going to be alright?" Ninjor sighed.

"I don't know."

"So what happens now?" Carter asked. "If that was Shadowborg, where the hell is Seth?"

"Good question." Kyle admitted. "How _does_ a robotic insect warrior from the Second Dimension hide a Ranger to be?"

"Superbly." They looked down in surprise as Ann offered them a sheepish, somewhat pained smile. "Sorry, couldn't resist." Carter knelt down next to him.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"I'm fine," Ann said, but she kept her gaze firmly on the top of her pet's head. Kyle and Ninjor exchanged irritated looks.

"Right, now you've gotten the brave lie out of the way, how are you _really_?" Kyle pressed.

"Kyle, you know me too well," Ann replied, shaking slightly as she got up. "And that's not good for either of us." Kyle scowled at his sister and Ann relented. "Let's just say that was _not_ something I'd like to repeat." Just then the alarm went off.

"Now what?" Carter asked.

"Rangers, observe the viewing globe." Ninjor declared. Kyle and Carter turned to see the Darkcrons continuing to wreak havoc across town. "The Darkcrons must be stopped before they do any more damage."

"And Shadowborg?" Ann asked, making a poor attempt to hide the fear in her voice.

"I don't know," Ninjor admitted.

"Plus we still need to find out where Seth is," Carter pointed out.

"Alright, I'll go." Kyle decided. "Carter, you stay and see if you can locate Seth. Ann?" Ann hesitated, then nodded but Ninjor shook his head and put a hand on Ann's shoulder to prevent her joining Kyle.

"I believe you are in no condition to fight, young Pegasus," Ninjor advised the youngest Ranger. Ann flicked her gaze between Kyle and Ninjor. She didn't want to let her brother fight alone, but when she thought of facing Shadowborg again she wanted to be sick.

"And if we're facing the Shadowborg we all think we are," Carter added, "in your condition you wouldn't stand a chance, Ann. And what if he takes you over the way he did Drew?" Ann shuddered at that, and nodded slowly.

"They're right," she admitted slowly, fingering the hole in her shirt and shivering. "Sorry Kyle, but I don't think I can."

"Ok, then you stay here, help look for Seth." Kyle decided.

"Alright," Ann agree. "Good luck. Be careful, big brother."

"FLAME JAGUAR!" In a flash of light, Red Ranger teleported out. Ann stared off into space for a moment, hugging herself, then felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Come on, Ann," Carter told the other girl gently. "We've got work to do." Ann looked up at her, then nodded. With that, the two girls turned their attention to the consoles. If Ann was glancing uncomfortably at the shadows, neither Ninjor nor Carter commented on it.

Red Ranger beamed in to a scene of chaos. In the absence of any defenders, the town had been ripped apart by the Darkcrons, better than any angry, drunken teenagers could ever manage. However, they stopped as soon as they caught sight of him.

"Excuse me!" Red Ranger called to them. "Any of you seen Shadowborg?" The Darkcrons, who wouldn't have told have told him even if they knew, or, for that matter, could speak English, simply attacked. Shrugging, Red Ranger drew his Strike Blade and attacked in turn.

"I've got something!" Carter cried out in triumph. Ann grinned at her.

"Bring it up on the Globe," she requested. Carter hesitated.

"How?" she asked. Since Ninjor hadn't had time to go over the consoles with the Rangers properly, the two humans present were pretty much learning the consoles as they went along. Ninjor started towards her, but she held up a hand. "Wait, never mind, I've got it." Ann and Ninjor stepped towards the Viewing Globe as it began to show images of what they assumed was the real Seth, tied up and surrounded by Darkcrons.

"It looks like they've got him in an abandoned warehouse," Carter commented. "No surprise there."

"It doesn't look like a very well lit warehouse though." Ninjor noted. The meaning was obvious to all of them and Ann couldn't suppress a violent shudder. A darkened warehouse with an overabundance of shadows gave their foe a home court advantage he most _certainly_ did not need. "It looks like they've got a monster guarding him too." Ninjor added, as the Globe's screen showed what looked sort of like a living organ with a top hat and handlebar mustache.

"Is that Fortissimodo?" Carter asked in disbelief. Ann shrugged.

"Is it?" she asked. "I wouldn't know. Only PR episodes I've seen were on the four videos the local store had."

"Bet you never thought you'd be cast into an episode of the show," chuckled Carter. Ann grinned.

"You'd lose that bet," she shot back. "I was five years old and firmly determined I was going to be the Blue Ranger. Of course I was also going to be a Planeteer with the power of 'apple'," added Ann laughing.

"Apple?" repeated Carter, laughing.

"Hey, I was five," protested Ann. "The only ring I owned had an apple on it, so that was my power."

"Carter," Ninjor spoke up. "It looks like Fortissimodo is talking to someone. Is it possible to see who?"

"Hold on." The scanners view switched angles. Ann promptly stepped back from the screen, shaking in fear. For the other conservationist was none other than Shadowborg himself.

"Oh, no." Carter groaned. She turned to her companion. "Are you..." The question died on her lips. Ann was quite clearly not alright. "I'll see if I can get sound..." she said, sighing as turning back to the controls.

"No..." Ann replied. '_Wimp_,' she spat at herself mentally, but it didn't stop the terror coursing through her.

"We need to know what they're talking about, Ann," Ninjor said gently. Ann shuddered violently, not wanting to hear Shadowborg's voice, her mind flashing back, reliving the moment of the shooting over and over.

Just then, as if her wish was being granted, the screen dissolved into snow. Not noticing, Carter triggered the sound... and a horrendous screeching filled the room. Everyone clapped their hands over their ears in agony, with Tuono fleeing the room with a howl of protest. The Pikachu's hearing was more sensitive then that of the humans after all.

"Fuck!" Carter wailed, stabbing the 'off' button. The noise mercifully cut out, though the screen remained snowed over. Both Carter and Ninjor sank to the floor, everyone rubbing their ears in pain.

"Well..." Ann said finally. "That'd get even _me_ up in the morning."

"I needed a new alarm, but that was ridiculous," Ninjor complained.

"What the hell happened?" Carter asked as she staggered upright.

"I think we've just been jammed," Ninjor commented.

"Does that mean Shadowborg and Piano boy will know I'm coming?" Carter asked.

"I expect they'll guess that much anyway," Ninjor replied. "Rescuing the Black Ranger will not be easy."

"Hah!" Ann remarked. They stared at her. "Oh, sorry. I was thinking of something else."

"Like what?" Carter asked.

"Well, Kyle comes for me and they send Pikalator. We go after Seth and they send the greatest force of darkness known to Personality Conflicts. Is it just me, or does someone up there have a sense of humor?"

"What about Nyghtmayr?" Carter wondered.

"Come _on_," Ann snorted, grateful to have something other then Shadowborg to think about. "Compared to the redesigned Shadowborg, Nyghtmayr was a throwaway. We're talking about a robot that managed to hold his own against fifteen heroes at once and lasted several weeks, compared to an emotional leech that got blown up by a single love stick teenage clone."

"I think you might be underselling Nyghtmayr," Ninjor mused, finally getting up and switching off the globe.

"I don't," Ann countered. "The minor demons did most of the work and they didn't last all that long." Carter sighed. "What's up?" Ann asked her.

"I got Radster?" she complained. Ann and Ninjor exchanged glances. This was a point.

"Maybe Radster was sent by whoever's provided Fortissimodo," Ann suggested.

"That's plausible," Ninjor agreed. "That would mean that Dantai has two sources of monsters to draw upon, though."

"The show and Ellen's stories." Ann agreed. "If there'd only been the latter, we'd have probably ended up against Divatox's Air Dragon."

"If we're finished with the introspection." Ninjor reminded them, not unkindly.

"Right." Ann sighed. "We'd better get moving."

"_You're_ not going anywhere," Carter replied sharply. "You stay here."

"I'm not letting you go up against Shadowborg alone." Ann retorted, though the very name gave her the shivers. Carter sighed.

"Look, it's nice that you want to help," she said, "but I can take care of myself." '_And you're shaking so hard you can barely stand, let alone fight_."

"Not against him," Ann countered. "If we're right, this is the same guy who threw the Turbo Rangers around like they were nothing."

"Your current powers are actually quite a bit stronger then the Turbo powers," Ninjor remarked suddenly.

"Really?" the girls chorused. Ninjor nodded.

"The Hyperstrike power source is a mix of the Great Power and the Ninja level of the Morphin Grid blended together. They bloody well ought to be stronger."

"With the Great Power providing the animal spirits and powering the Zords," Ann mused, now recalling what Ninjor had told her and Kyle before.

"I'm not going to fight Shadowborg," Carter promised. "I'm just going to go in, get Seth and get out."

'_And that_,' Ann thought, '_is the kind of thing they had in mind when they coined the phrase 'easier said than done'._'

"Okay, but be careful," she finally said out loud. "We don't know exactly how good Shadowborg's senses are. And..." she continued, holding up a hand, "there are a lot of other eyes in there. You're not the Phantom Ranger. It'd be all too easy for someone to spot you."

"I'll be careful," Carter said. "I'll call if I need help."

"Ok."

"Can I teleport in through the jamming?" Carter asked Ninjor, who scrutinised the monitors.

"It looks like the jamming has dissipated." he reported. "I can beam you in just outside."

"Oh, great," Carter muttered. "As if _that_ doesn't scream 'trap'"

"Carter," Ann said, suddenly remembering something she'd picked up from an old friend. "First Rule of Slaying," she told the other girl, her expression solemn. Carter looked at her in confusion for a moment, then nodded.

"Co-ordinates set." Ninjor said.

"Energise." Carter quipped. Ninjor chuckled, then pressed the appropriate buttons, causing Carter to dematerialize into a stream of pink light. Then, the Blue Morphin Master looked at Ann strangely.

"First Rule of Slaying?"

"Don't Die."

"Good rule."

"Yeah."

It took Carter only a few moments to find her way into the warehouse. She didn't morph, since that might show up on whatever energy senses Shadowborg had. '_Of course, if he has a life form scanner maybe he'll detect me anyway._' Carter shook her head. That kind of thinking would get her nowhere.

After a moments thought and a few minutes dodging Darkcrons, Carter found her way up near the top of a pile of boxes that overlooked the main bay. From her position, she could see Shadowborg, standing impassively as Fortissimodo paced back and forth, the Darkcrons milling aimlessly around as Seth struggled in his chair, his back to her. She was grateful for this; it was all too easy for him to look up and give her away by accident.

'_Now what?_' she thought to herself. She suddenly found she had a desperate urge to pee, but dismissed it as nerves. After 15 minutes, Fortissimodo threw his hands in the air, obviously frustrated.

"This is most unsatisfactory." he complained. "I'm a maestro, not a stand in. When is the performance due to begin?"

"Soon." Shadowborg said. "Red Ranger has almost destroyed the last batch of Darkcrons left for him to destroy. Then I will pay him a _personal_ visit." Carter felt her stomach lurch at the thought of Kyle having to take on that abomination alone, no matter how strong their powers were supposed to be. The feeling got worse as Shadowborg continued. "My inbuilt jamming capabilities will prevent him from teleporting away. I don't think I'll block the Power Chamber's viewing system this time. I want Ninjor to witness every moment." The Dark Beetleborg glared at the other monster. "And do not forget who the star attraction here is, Fortissimodo. I direct this little production, not you. I am the one Nitra summoned to destroy these foolish writers who think they can play at being Power Rangers... not that being the real thing would help them. You are only here because Tyranus wanted someone guarding this piece of refuse," he indicted Seth, who managed to look indignant, "not, I will admit, a bad idea. Your task is to keep any visitors occupied while I deal with the rest."

"Of course it is," Fortissimodo said dismissively, as if anything else had not occurred to him, which surprised Carter. "I will play my part to my usual perfect standard. I am just anxious, impatient for the curtain call."

"Your 'usual perfect standard' got you destroyed by the Zeo Rangers," Shadowborg pointed out.

"A different Fortissimodo, I believe," the musical monster countered. Shadowborg ignored this.

"Your best?" he inquired. "Do _better_." This was meant as a threat; Fortissimodo took it as a challenge.

"It will be my pleasure," Shadowborg chuckled, a horrible sound.

"I like you," he decided. Fortissimodo bowed, obviously touched.

"It is an honor to meet the approval of one as powerful as you. I only wish the challenge were greater. The Zeo Rangers were said to be formidable and highly skilled foes. These are novices and less numerous at that."

"Indeed," Shadowborg agreed. "Though I fear the Purple Ranger may not be attending. I may have scared the _poor_ child too badly on our first encounter."

"Was that not the idea?"

"True." The two villains shared an evil chuckle. Fortissimodo raised an eyebrow.

"That accounts for three of our performers, if you count the Harry Potter look-alike over here." That surprised Carter more than anything. An Evil Space Alien had read J.K. Rowling's stories? "But what of the fourth, the Pink Ranger?" In response, quicker than the eye could see, Shadowborg drew his Shadow Laser and fired at the crate Carter was standing on. It collapsed explosively, sending her tumbling to the warehouse floor.

"Never mind," Fortissimodo said dryly. Shaking her head to clear it, Carter stared at Shadowborg.

"How?" she asked.

"My dear, how do you think?" Shadowborg asked, in the tone of a parent addressing a stupid child. "You can try as hard as you like to minimise the sound of your footsteps, to control your breathing and your heart rate. And an excellent job you were doing, if I may say so. But you were unable to hide the one thing I, of all monsters, should be able to detect."

"My emotions..." Carter realised. '_Damn!_'

"Correct," Shadowborg stated, seemingly amused. "Your fear, your nausea and you current state of shock are all child's play for me to sense." He turned to his associate. "I shall leave her in your capable hands, Fortissimodo. I have another matter to attend to." Fortissimodo nodded.

"May the Devil grant you victory." he said.

"I make my own victories." Shadowborg replied. "But I appreciate the sentiment." With that, he walked into one of the walls, and was gone.

"Shall we dance, my dear?" Fortissimodo asked, gesturing to the Darkcrons to wait. Carter got to her feet.

"Do I have a choice?"

"If you want to rescue your lover here, then no," Fortissimodo remarked. Seth, hearing this made an incoherent but somewhat loud squeal of protest.

"I've never met him before in my life." Carter retorted calmly. "Besides, I'm not that sort of girl." She gave the trussed up and gagged young man in the chair a once over. "He is kinda cute, though." she added, causing Seth to blush fiercely.

"Ah, young love," Fortissimodo commented wistfully. Carter raised an eyebrow at him.

"I didn't know you'd be that sentimental."

"Ah, but how can you blame me?" Fortissimodo asked. "Romance and music are so intertwined. Now, let us begin. I trust you can perform?"

"I suppose I'd better dress for the occasion," she said, bringing up her morpher. Fortissimodo made no move to stop her.

"WIND BUTTERFLY!" Seth's jaw hit the floor, which also loosened the gag.

"That was so _cool_!" he exclaimed, though his words were still somewhat muffled.

"Ah, now the stage is set," Fortissimodo declared, seemingly pleased by the Pink Ranger's new appearance. "But I'm a generous instrument and shall allow the lesser performers the honor of the first movement."

"Time to tune you out Fortissimodo!" Pink Ranger retorted.

"We'll see," the piano monster replied. "Darkcrons, it's show time!"

"Strike Blade!" Carter commanded, drawing her Blaster and switching it into short sword form. "Spiral Mode!" The Blade promptly grew much larger and deadlier, with a double serrated edge, but with the teeth offset at 90 degrees. The blade began to spin in the direction the teeth were pointing, creating a drill-like spiral effect.  
"Star Sword, Ignite!" Red Ranger called. Fortissimodo wasn't the only monster from the show that had been sent down, but Pudgy Pig had barely lasted a minute even against one Ranger, though Kyle couldn't help but be insulted at Dantai's choice. He swung his sword and the flame wave bisected the porker, the two pieces falling to the ground before exploding very satisfactorily as Red Ranger posed on a background of flame.

A loud clapping echoed through the air. Red Ranger turned to see 'Seth', his back against one of the buildings, his glowing eyes making it clear who it really was.

"Shadowborg." Kyle growled.

"Very impressive, Red Ranger," 'Seth' said, his voice sending chills down Kyle's spine. He walked towards Kyle, his disguise melting away into his far too familiar armoured form. "But of course, that bottomless pit was just the warm-up act. Think you're good enough to deal with me?"

"Let's find out!" Red Ranger snapped. "Strike Blade, Spiral Mode!" Now with two long swords of roughly equal size, he did a quick kata, then posed. "Hyperstrike Red, Jaguar!" Shadowborg chuckled and dropped into combat stance. The two fighters circled each other, each waiting for the other to make the first move. "Since when have you been a shapeshifter?" Red Ranger asked.

"My benefactor made some improvements," Shadowborg replied. "Added a few interesting powers to my design. I got that one from what was left of one of the Psycho Rangers. I am now much stronger than I was before. No boasting. Just fact. In my previous incarnation I held off fifteen heroes all at once. What makes you think you can compare?"

"As I recall," Kyle mused, "you were killed in the end by two of the Beetleborg's blasting you to smithereens."

"Indeed," Shadowborg admitted. "An incident I do not intend to repeat. But as you so kindly pointed out, there were two of them. But here you are, all alone. No allies. No friends. Just you. What can you do?"

"Whatever I can!" Red Ranger declared, doing his damnedest not to let the evil Beetleborg's words get to him.

"Very well, then." Shadowborg said, making a 'come hither' gesture. "Come on. _Impress_ _me_." His next words, _if you can_, remained unspoken, but hung in the air nonetheless.

With a battle cry, Red Ranger flung himself at Shadowborg, blades twirling in a complicated, deadly dance. Shadowborg waited until the last moment, when the Red Ranger was almost within sword range, then pulled out his Shadow Laser and blasted his opponent in the chest, a near mirror of his attack on Ann. Red Ranger flew back and landed on his back, swords clattering away, terror flooding his being. Shadowborg hissed, savoring the emotion, then leapt in the air. The Irony Gods must have been watching, however, as the only thing that kept Kyle morphed and mobile was the sight of his enemy pouncing on him. He yelped and twisted aside, a microsecond before the Shadow Claw buried itself in the concrete exactly where the Red Ranger's neck _had_ been. With a complicated maneuvered, Red Ranger spun and flipped to his feet, scooping up his Spiral Blade in the process.

"Return!" he commanded. The Star Saber promptly picked itself up and flew towards him... with Shadowborg directly in it's path! Shadowborg sensed it coming from behind him and dodged, spinning, trying to snatch it out of the air, but the sword jinked aside before his fingers could close on the hilt. To any onlookers, not that there were any, the sword would have almost seemed to slow slightly as it reached the Red Ranger, allowing Kyle to do what Shadowborg could not, repossessing the semi-magic blade and spinning both it and himself into battle position. Not to be outdone, Shadowborg reached behind his back and produced a black kantana. Behind his helmet, Kyle blanched, guessing that this was the weapon that had killed Katie Star. Shadowborg took the sword in a two handed gripped and hefted it into battle stance.

"Care to try again?" he asked. To Shadowborg's total surprise, Red Ranger chuckled, brandishing both of his weapons, the Spiral Blade with it's lethal spin and the Star Saber, the blade aflame and blazing hungrily.  
"Let's rock."

_To Be Continued_

Authors Note: This is part one in a three part episode as I've taken too long in getting this out and hopefully you people will enjoy it.


	5. Chapter 3b: Darkening Shadows

**Power Rangers: Hyperstrike**

_**What has gone before…**_

_The real Black Ranger, Seth Turtle, has been found. The only problem is, he's a prisoner and guarding him is the mutant piano, Fortissimodo. With Kyle facing the deadly Shadowborg and Ann out of action, it falls upon the Pink Ranger, Carter, to rescue her future team-mate…_

_And she'd better do it quickly…_

**Six Come Together, Part 3b: Darkening Shadows**

Back at the warehouse, Pink Ranger spun in an arc, decapitating two Darkcrons coming in from opposite directions, before gutting one trying to attack her from behind. As she removed the Spiral Blade from the defeated creature, the last two ran at her. Thinking quickly, she leapt high before kicking them both in the head, throwing them apart. She then charged up her Blade and sliced one diagonally in half before spinning and similarly bisecting its partner, this one from groin to head.

The sound of clapping made the Pink Ranger look up. "Bravo!" Fortissimodo exclaimed as he applauded her. "A most excellent performance. Are you ready for the second act?" Carter brought her Spiral Blade up ready.

"Come and get me, tough guy."

"Tougher than you can handle." Fortissimodo retorted. Then he attacked. Instead of waiting for him, Carter followed suit. Seth could only watch as the two fought it out.

Unfortunately for Carter, Fortissimodo was as good as his word, using his cane as a staff to block her sword strokes, the spinning teeth continually catching on the apparently tougher material. Exasperated, Carter switched back to the normal short sword, but this left her with an increased difficulty in getting past the monsters defenses. As a result, the Pink Ranger was getting pounded.

Finally bored, Fortissimodo swung and knocked Pink Rangers feet out from under her. Carter rolled away, expecting a follow up if she remained prone. This, however, was not Fortissimodo's plan. Instead, as Carter was getting up he spun with the grace of a ballerina and kicked her in the chest, sending her flying back into one of the crates. Pink Ranger demorphed back into Carter and collapsed face first. In his chair, Seth cringed. This was not going well.

"Ah, my dear." Fortissimodo crooned. "It would appear that I am the victorious participant this time." Carter glared at him as she staggered to her knees, holding a hand to her nose, obviously broken, blood pouring down the front of her body, staining her clothes.

"Go to hell," she snapped.

"Go to hell?" Fortissimodo asked, chuckling. "My dear girl, I intend to take you there." He advanced on Carter, but she managed to scuttle away from him. "Silly girl," Fortissimodo scolded her. "Why delay the inevitable? Surrender and I might even let you... enjoy yourself before I destroy you."

"I'll stop you," she promised, inwardly cringing at how clinched that sounded.

"Oh please," Fortissimodo snorted in derision. "Such a frail, pretty thing such as yourself has no chance against a fine male specimen such as myself." Seth earned a lot of points with Carter at that moment by groaning at that line. "You don't agree?" Fortissimodo asked.

"I suppose the fact that you're a mutant piano from outer space has nothing to do with it," Seth replied sarcastically. Fortissimodo thought about that.

"You know, you may be right," he mused. He looked at Carter... then began to change, resulting in a human form with a remarkable resemblance to Johnny Depp, though still in a suit that the Penguin might have worn, if he'd somehow managed to lose weight. "There", he decided. "Now let's see how good you are."

"Let's not and say we did," shot back Carter as she lunged for him. 'Johnny' responded by smacking her across the face with his cane. He repeated the gesture, only for Carter to grab hold off the cane with both hands. "Get off." 'Johnny' snarled, trying to wrench the cane from her grasp.

"You _wish_ you could," Carter retorted smartly, just before she kicked him in the groin. 'Johnny' yelled in pain, but merely redoubled his efforts to retrieve his weapon. After a few missed shots at her ankles, 'Johnny' fell back, lifted his foot and kicked Carter square in the gut. Her grip tightened on the staff as her stomach convulsed and she threw up all over his fancy shirt. Most of the rest ended up on the ware-house floor. In his capacity as a literally captive audience, Seth groaned again. Rangering had certainly seemed more glamorous on TV.

"You little bitch." 'Johnny' snapped. "Do have any idea how much these shirts cost to dry-clean?" A snarl was the only response. Before 'Johnny' could react, Carter leapt up, drew back her head and head butted him in the nose, smashing it completely.

'_See how __**you**__ like having a bloody nose_,' Carter mused, with some triumph. He'd let go of his cane, she noticed and advanced on her foe. This time it was Carter's turn to smack 'Johnny' across the face, twice. Seth cheered, though the sound was still muffled by his gag, which was only just starting to come loose. Carter lifted the cane at the ready. "Fore!" she announced, before swinging underarm and striking 'Johnny' in his jaw, knocking his head back with such force Seth was almost sure it was going to fall off. The disguised pianist collapsed to the floor, but quickly got up again. Carter noted with some satisfaction that she'd managed to break his jaw with her last blow, shattering the chin. Seth finally spat out the gag.

"I'd have given that at least a 7." he quipped. In obvious pain, 'Johnny' whirled on Seth, wailing something that sounded like 'shut up', before he turned back to Carter and lunged at her. Throwing away the cane, Carter jumped, spinning over him. Time slowed as she started to come back down, drawing back her foot, which was suddenly glowing pink with energy. Swinging her leg forward with all her might, Carter smacked 'Johnny' full in the chest, sending him flying. She landed on all fours just as he crashed through some of the stacked boxes, sending several of the higher ones tumbling to the floor.

Smacking her hands in victory, she glanced at Seth making sure he was okay.

He glanced towards the demolished crates. "You think you got him?"

"For the moment." Carter looked back herself and grinned, admiring her handiwork. "That'll teach him not to mess with a woman."

"I'm sure he'll keep that in mind if he ever fights one." Seth commented. Carter smacked him across the back of the head.

"Do you want to be rescued or not?"

"Sorry." Seth repeated. It took a moment, but Carter was able to untie the ropes binding Seth to the chair. He got up, wincing. "I think my feet have gone to sleep." he complained. There was a noise from the pile of fallen boxes.

"Damn." Carter growled. "Guess I didn't finish him after all." This did not come as a surprise. She turned to Seth, pulling the Bat Morpher from sub-space with an audible _~pu-lip~_. "Here. This belongs to you." Seth blinked.

"Me? Um, what is it?"

"It's your morpher." Seth blinked again.

"My mor..." His jaw dropped. "_Me?_ A Ranger?" With a crash or two, Fortissimodo smashed his way out of the crates.

"That hurt." he growled.

"You gotta be kidding." Seth protested to Carter. "I'm a coward!" Carter did not have time for debate and did not bother wasting time saying so.

"Do you want to get out of this or not?" she asked. Seth considered this.

"Good point," he allowed. With only a little more hesitation, he took the morpher and put it on. Then, they turned and faced Fortissimodo.

"I'm going to silence you," the monster growled. "But slowly. I will orchestrate a concert of your screams before I finally let you die."

"You think he'd give up on the music jokes by now," Carter remarked. "Ready?"

"No." Seth quipped. Fortissimodo screamed in fury, then charged.

"WIND BUTTERFLY!"

"DARKNESS BAT!" Transformed, the pair leapt in different directions, letting the charging piano run through the space where they had been. "Not very bright, is he?" Black Ranger remarked.

"Typical man," Pink Ranger retorted in explanation. "Can't think with both heads at once."

Fortissimodo turned, unleashing a volley of musical notes, which crashed into the ground around the Rangers, sending explosions into the air, along with both spandex clad teens. The piano landed heavily, only for Black Ranger to leap up again.

"Enough!" he cried, jumping high into the air, straight towards Fortissimodo. Black Ranger ran towards the monster moving his hand to his belt. "Negasi!" He pulled out a long black-solored staff with a bat insignia on its head.

Fortissimodo reacted predictably, unleashing a blast of musical notes. Black Ranger nimbly leaped to the side destroying as many of the notes as possible with his staff. Fortissimodo growled and charged. Backed up against a wall, Seth waited until the last second then sidestepped, letting Fortissimodo slam hard into the wall. The impact, sadly, did more damage to the wall, especially when Fortissimodo came through the wall again instead of using the already available hole.

"Damn. What is this guy, made of rock?" Black Ranger groaned.

"Doe Ray Me" Fortissimodo began, blasting Black Ranger with the resulting notes. The blast sent the Ranger slamming in the far side of the wall. "Why do things never go as planned?" Seth groaned.

"Then we do things the unplanned way." Carter told him.

'_They _had_ a plan?_' Fortissimodo wondered, preparing himself for anything. Pink Ranger brought out her Triangle Tri-bow.

"Take this. Split Arrows, fire!" Fortissimodo tried to dodge, but one on the arrows lodged in his leg, making him howl in pain. Black Ranger nodded. "My turn. Shadowed Slice!" The energy slice from Negasi sent Fortissimodo hurling through the air. The monster somehow managed to land on his feet, just outside the warehouse. The pair of Rangers ran out to meet the monster.

"Now what?" Seth asked.

"THIS!" Pink Ranger shouted. "Strike Blade! Thunder Mode!" Black Ranger watched as her blade converted to a large pink cannon. "Fire!" Even as he crapped himself, the piano was already jumping at Pink Ranger. The strategy paid off, the explosion's force picking him up and giving him enough momentum to collide with her, knocking them both to the floor and sending her Strike Thunder Cannon clattering away...

"Damn it!" Black Ranger cursed. "Carter!" Black Ranger rushed forward. "Strike Blade Thunder Mode!" Pulling out a huge black cannon aimed it Fortissimodo and fired. The blast smashed into both the monster...and Pink Ranger, neither of them having been able to get untangled from the other in time. Black Ranger paled under his helmet. "Crap. Carter's going to kill me..." Pink Ranger slowly rose to her feet and saw Black Ranger.

"Seth, when this is over, I'm going to KILL you." Seth gulped.

"Would it help if I said sorry?"

"No!" At this point Fortissimodo reminded them it was there by blasting Pink Ranger from his own position, knocking her to the ground again in a shower of sparks. In obvious pain, Pink Ranger climbed to her feet, leaning on her Thunder Cannon for support. "This has NOT been a fun day..."

"No kidding..." Seth muttered as he avoided a stray blast from Fortissimodo. Carter glared at him.

"YOU'RE part of the reason my day has been bad! You blasted me with your cannon! What are you doing?! Trying to get me killed?" She said in anger.

"No! I just... I don't think I'm cut out for this. Scott should've been Black." Carter sighed, her anger disappearing for the moment.

"Complain about it later. C'mon!"

"If we're still alive..." Black Ranger muttered.

"Details. Triangle Tri-bow!" Holding her bow in her right arm she grinned. "Lets go, ugly." Despite his doubts, Black Ranger copied suit, taking up a fighting stance with Negasi. Pink Ranger leapt, lashing out at the monster repeatedly and quickly learned a simple fact: a Tri-Bow is NOT a close combat weapon. AS the Tri-Bow clattered away, Fortissimodo saw an opening and brought his cane up between Pink Rangers legs. As Carter yelped in pain, a second strike smashed across her head... Black Ranger took aim with his Strike Cannon.

"Please let this work..." Seth muttered under his breath as Carter demorphed, unconscious. Fortissimodo stood over her and Seth quickly realised that if he fired, both would again be caught in the blast... and this one, Carter would not survive. Having run out of options, Seth made possibly the stupidest decision in the history of Rangerhood. There was one thing that might distract Fortissimodo long enough for Carter to recover. "Power down." Seth said, as his black spandex suit disappeared. The monster grinned. "That was your last mistake, Ranger!" He said as he advanced on Seth. He fired a note of power, blasting the boy off his feet. Seth struggled back up, hissing in pain. Fortissimodo charged forcing Seth to do a quick roll to the right.

However, for a piano, Fortissimodo was surprisingly agile, switching direction, spinning and lashing out to meet Seth on his way back up while Seth did the only thing he could think of; he gave a quick side kick to Fortissimodo. They hit each other at the same time, Seth getting hit in the chest while Fortissimodo took a blow to the keys. The hit to the chest sent Seth on a collision course with the warehouse floor. He winced in pain as he staggered back to his feet.

"Okay, powering down may not have been the brightest of ideas," he muttered under his breath. Fortissimodo staggered, obviously tiring. Taking advantage of Fortissimodo's tiredness, Seth took the time to morph. "Much better," he remarked as fresh energy raced through him.

"You won't win, Ranger." Fortissimodo declared.

"We'll see," was all Black Ranger replied, calling Nagasi as he spoke. Before the overgrown piano could react, he struck out with the staff. The monster replied by snarling and punching him in the head. Black Ranger winced. Even with the protection of his helmet he was going to have a headache after a hit like that. Ignoring the pain for the moment, Black Ranger returned the punch, following it with the hardest kick he could manage. Fortissimodo flew back, but managed to stay on his feet. But he was swaying. Black Ranger wasn't about to give the monster a chance to recover. Leaping forward, he attacked Fortissimodo with a cluster of kicks and punches. The monster was too tired to defend himself and pressing his advantage, Black Ranger continued his attack. However as tired as he was, Fortissimodo wasn't prepared to lose just yet and brought his cane down on the Black Ranger's helmet hard enough to stun the newest ranger for a moment. A swift kick sent Seth flying backwards. Fortissimodo laughed.

"Good performance, Black Ranger. But it is time for your final movement!"

"Those music jokes get old _fast_," growled Black Ranger as he got to his feet. "But I agree with you on one point. It's time to finish this." Pulling out his Strike Blade he called, "Strike Blade Thunder Mode!" As before, he fired the cannon at Fortissimodo. Only this time Carter wasn't in the way. Fortissimodo fell over and exploded, apparently from exhaustion.... the cannon shot passing overhead and smashing into a nearby building, obliterating it and the two behind it. "Oops..." muttered Black Ranger. "Hope I don't have to pay for that..."

"You really have to stop using that thing," Carter muttered, getting up.

"Are you alright?" Carter growled at him as a memory clicked into place.

"YOU _SHOT_ ME!" she yelled. "OF COURSE I'M NOT ALL RIGHT!"

"I was hoping you'd forgotten that," muttered Black Ranger.

Black Ranger shrugged. "You better morph."

Carter gave him The Look. "A _brilliant_ idea," she snarled. "Now why didn't I think of that?" Just then their communicators went off. "Yeah?" said Carter, answering her communicator.

"It's Ninjor. I need you two to go help against Shadowborg. The others are getting their behinds handed to them."

"Right, we're on my way." Black Ranger replied.

"And which way are you going?" was the sarcastic reply. Stopping short, he figured it out.

"Umm... Which way is Shadowborg?"

"Just stand still." Shaking her head, Carter transformed, ready for action. A moment later, Seth and Carter were teleported out.

~*~

"Ugh…" The Red Ranger lay on the ground, his vision swimming in and out of blackness. Through the pain Kyle wondered if this was how meat felt after being tenderized. While he was doing (he thought anyway) fairly well against the evil Beetleborg, it didn't take Shadowborg long to disarm his Star Sword and Strike Spiral Blade. He didn't clearly know how things went this good to bad, so quickly...

"I admit Red Ranger," mocked Shadowborg, standing over the fallen Ranger, "you were a greater challenge then I thought you'd be. Not enough of a challenge to stop me, but still, I thank you for the warm up. And in return, I'll share my plans with you."

"You… You won't win," interrupted Red, but the weakness in his voice and the sheer clichéd nature of the comeback robbed it of any power.

"Spare me the heroic defiance, Red Ranger. I don't think either of us could keep a straight face. Now where was I? Oh yes, my plans." Red Ranger didn't need to be able to see the evil Borg's face in order to know it was smirking at him as he toyed with the deadly black blade. "First of all, I am going to slice and dice you, so to speak, saving only your head. Then I am going to go watch Fortissimodo finish off the Pink Ranger, or do the job myself if she's still alive. Next, I'm going to let the would-have-been Black Ranger stew in his own fear, Ranger or not his fear is still very enjoyable, before I kill him. Lastly, I'm going to go after your precious little sister. That's what your head is going to be for, by the way, just a pleasant little gift for her before I tear her apart."

"Leave Ann alone!" shouted Kyle, struggling to stand. Shadowborg merely laughed and was just lifting the black kantana to deliver the final blow when two blurs slammed into him, knocking him back into a nearby building. Kyle stared as a _Green_ Ranger helped him to his feet while Purple Ranger glared at Shadowborg. Judging by her body stance, Ann Star was well and truly _pissed off_.

"How about you shut the hell up and get the fuck _away_ from my brother?" she snarled, Wing Shield and Hyperlaser at the ready.

"Who are you?" Kyle asked the Green Ranger, taking in his appearance. This clearly wasn't the Green Turtle Ranger the HyperStrikes still needed to find. He looked more like the Green Dairanger outfit, but with a Power Morpher, Blade Blaster and Zyuranger style gloves and boots. His helmet was a mix of both styles, in the image of the Fox, fur detailed in gold.

"Call me the Fox Ranger," replied the mysterious Ranger. "Come on, we better help Ann out." While the Red and Fox Rangers had been talking, Purple Ranger had switched her Hyperlaser over to Strike Blade mode and she and Shadowborg were trading blows. At a first glance the pair might have seemed equals, but a closer look would reveal that Purple was on the defensive, barely able to ward off the other's attacks.

"I must admit, I expected you to still be cowering under your bed, little girl," remarked Shadowborg. "After all, you've never been much of a hero have you? Ever considered long distance sprinting? After all, you're good at _running away_."

"You really are full of it aren't you?" snapped Purple. "Why don't you… just… shut… up?" With every word she attempted to get in a hit, but each strike was blocked. However just as her Strike Blade was knocked out of her hand, the Fox and Red Rangers joined the fight… not that it did anything but force Shadowborg to take a few steps back and start firing his Shadow Laser, blasting all three Rangers into the nearby buildings. "Ugh," groaned Purple. "Would someone _please_ remind the homicidal robot that the Power Rangers always win?"

"I already did," replied Red, helping her to her feet. "He didn't believe me." A black flash to his left caught Kyle's attention and he slowly turned his head. '_God don't let it be back up for Shadowborg…_'

"Need a hand?" asked the Black Ranger.

"Seth?!" asked Purple and Red.

"Glad to have you here," grinned Red. "Okay, everyone attack together!" With four Rangers, it seemed the tide was turning against Shadowborg. The evil Beetleborg was continually forced back, although it didn't stopped him continuing to fire on the group, especially Fox Ranger. The Hyperstrikes' ally's armour begun to flicker as his power started to fail and he swore.

"Guys, I gotta go!" Fox told the other three and disappeared in a streak of green just as Pink Ranger appeared.

"Where the hell were you?" asked Purple.

"Giving Butterfly a test run against Dantai's overgrown piano," snapped back Pink. Nearby Red and Black just looked at each other and shook their heads.

"Let's Finish this!" Kyle commanded as his team lined up beside him. "Hyper Lasers, Thunder Mode!" All four Rangers drew their pistols and expanded them into the large cannons. "And… _Fire_!" Four blasts of light _boomed_ from the cannons, each in the rangers individual colour. Already wounded, Shadowborg shrieked in rage and pain as the resulting explosions swamped him.

The Rangers cheered. Black brought his cannon up and pretended to kiss it. "I love this gun!" he declared. The others didn't have to look to know he was grinning like a madman.

"_Boys_," Pink Ranger repeated, this time out loud. Purple Ranger chuckled and nodded her complete agreement.

"They're all the same," she told the only other female in the group.

"Guys!" Red Ranger said, snapping them to attention. "We're not done." Indeed, Shadowborg was walking out of the flames. His armour was smoking, cracked in many places, his Shadow Laser missing, but he was still mobile.

"You'd think at least _one_ of Dantai's monsters would take the hint," Purple Ranger sighed.

"Do they ever?" Black Ranger countered

"Not so far," Red Ranger told him. His communicator beeped. "Red here."

"It's Ninjor. I'm sending you a new weapon configuration again: The Nova Sword. I'm assuming you know what to do with it..." The Rangers nodded as the information flashed up on their helmets and into their brains.

"Thanks, Ninjor," Red Ranger said, ignoring the sarcasm in the Morphin Master's tone. "Alright guys, let's put it together." Purple Ranger switched her Shield to cannon mode and Pink Ranger attached one end of her bow along the top of it. Black Ranger and Red Ranger added their own weapons in turn, resulting in a Jungle Sword-esque formation. That done, Purple Ranger, with a glance at his leader, held the weapon out to Black Ranger. "Seth, you do the honours," he offered. Black Ranger glanced at Red Ranger, who nodded, then took the gestalt weapon.

"Thanks," he said. Red Ranger and Purple Ranger formed up either side of him, with Pink Ranger behind them.

"Fools," Shadowborg rasped, as if he was having trouble speaking. "Strike me down and I shall rise up more powerful than before." The Rangers rolled their eyes in unison.

"Forgive us if we don't believe you," Purple Ranger replied dryly.

"Savage Slash!" Black Ranger announced, before twirling the weapon to charge it. Shadowborg decides to go for broke and began to charge towards them... too late. Black Ranger swung and bisected the robot with ease.

"The old ways are the best," Pink Ranger cheered.

"They'd have to be," Purple Ranger retorted. "They're the only ways we've got!" That said, the foursome took their weapons and turned their backs on the collapsing villain, posing as he exploded.

"_Now_, it's done," Seth grinned as the team demorphed.

"Later days, Shadowborg!" Kyle agreed.

"_Now_ is he dead?" Pink Ranger asked.

~*~

"Are all the monsters that tough?" Seth asked as the Rangers materialised in the Power Chamber.

"No, he was definitely the toughest so far" Kyle said. "Man, I hope the rest of Dantai's forces aren't that strong."

"I'm afraid some of them may be even tougher." Ninjor told them. "But you handled the situation very well, even with your limited numbers. If there had been six of you and the MegaBattlezord at your disposal, no mere Beetleborg would have been able to stop you." Seth took the presence of Ninjor mostly in stride, but all eyes turned to the shadowed figure in the corner.

"We didn't do it without help." Ann commented. "Thanks for helping us out there. And for helping me get my head straight."

"You're welcome." Justin stepped into the light, surprising the others, but not greatly. "After all I 've been through, a little pop-psychology is nothing."

"Am I missing something here?" Kyle asked.

Ninjor and the older Justin just shared a look saying 'don't ask, don't tell'. Justin sighed as he faced the four Rangers. "I'm from a world where the events of the Turbo Rangers took a very different way."

"Still lost here." Carter commented.

Ninjor shrugged helplessly. "In our dimension Dark Specter arrived one year earlier and because of this, conquered the universe through Zordon's power drain. First, he acquired the Astro Morphers by killing the only Ranger with access to them."

"Andros." Seth realized.

Justin quietly nodded. "Yes. With his own band of Rangers he killed off the Turbos until only I was left. We tried getting the other Rangers to assist but by then Aquitar, Eltar, and virtually every planet in the Galaxy was captured and enslaved."

Awkward silence soon followed until Ann asked the question on their minds. "What about Dantai? What does he have to do with this?"

It was Ninjor who spoke next. "Dantai was imprisoned on Eltar for questionable practices into other dimensions by none other than Zordon. After Tyranus and Nitra released him, he soon found the gateway into yours."

Despite his heavy heart, Kyle nodded to affirm Ninjor and Justin's words. ""So what happens now?"

We keep searching." Ninjor said. "We still need two more Rangers to complete your team and their Zords to complete the Megazord and MegaBattlezord."

"Where _are_ the missing Zords anyway?" Seth asked.

"In the Holding Bay." Justin replied simply. "But they'll remain there until the Rangers connected to them are found."

"Any leads?" Carter asked.

Justin nodded. "While you guys were fighting, Ninjor had a vision to describe him."

"And?"

Ninjor seemed to grin beneath his helmet. "Brown hair, about Seth's height, seems to shave often. I recognized a few buildings from when I recruited Kyle."

Kyle's interest piqued, he posed a question. "Scars?"

"One on the back of his leg, that's it. Why?"

"I think I know who we're looking for. An old friend. Joey Evans."

"What's he like?" Ann asked.

"He's...interesting..."

"We can track him down in the morning." Justin said.

"Agreed." Ninjor said. "After today, you could all do with some rest."

"Well, I'm going to take a shower." Carter decided. She grinned mischievously. "Care to join me?"

"Um..." Seth blushed.

And the Power Chamber filled with laughter...

~*~

Well, that went well..." Tyranus commented sarcastically.

"Indeed, the Rangers are quite impressive." Dantai mused.

"Though if it were not for that blasted Fox Ninja, Shadowborg would have had them." Nitra seethed.

Dantai thought about this. "I believe you are correct my dear. No matter. Tomorrow is another day and we have yet to test their full capabilities."

"We're only testing them?" Tyranus asked. "But what if our tests had destroyed them?" Dantai gave him a bemused look and Tyranus shook his head. "Yes, of course. None of us would exactly complain, would we? So what now?"

"For now, nothing." Dantai said. "Tomorrow, I suggest we each choose a monster to send down. I already have an... appropriate candidate."

"And if the Rangers somehow do acquire the full team?" Nitra asked.

Dantai smiled.

"Then, my sister, that's when things get interesting..."


End file.
